“Mindfulness is the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally to things as they are.”

–Williams, Teasdale, Segal, and Kabat-Zinn, The Mindful Way Through Depression

The practice of mindfulness (shamatha) and awareness (vipashyana), developed in the Buddhist tradition, resonates strongly with the practices of Christian contemplatives such as St. John of the Cross, Meister Eckhardt, Thomas Merton, John Main, and Laurence Freeman as well as contemplatives of other faith traditions. When Chogyam Trungpa introduced the Shambhala teachings in the West in the late 1970s, he presented mindfulness and awareness practice in a secular context. He taught that basic goodness is common to people of all religions–and no religion. Around the same time, Jon Kabat-Zinn began introducing mindfulness to people who are dealing with a variety of physical and mental health challenges. At the heart of mindfulness is the practice of meditation which introduces a “hands-off” approach to whatever thoughts, daydreams, feelings, moods, and sensations come up while we are sitting here on our chair or cushion.

We tend to get wrapped up in our own storylines–threads habitually spun out of nowhere. It’s as if, through some sort of invisible process, somewhere in the background, we have our own private factory that’s constantly churning this stuff out: hopes, plans, worries, strategies, to-do lists, regrets, you name it. The momentum of this busyness propels us through our day, from the moment we wake up until our head hits the pillow and we nod off at night. At the same time, there’s an entirely different world outside all the hashing and rehashing that goes on in our head: a breeze through the open window, the sound of a car approaching. And there’s a chasm between the two.

Our habitual tendency is to stay entranced by our all-too-familiar parade of concerns, with “me” at the centre. It’s a tug of war we seem to be losing. Meditation practice brings us into direct contact with both dreamworld and nowness. Through mindfulness and awareness practice, a new perspective emerges. We begin to notice the parade that a moment ago engulfed us. We even become inquisitive about the texture of the roadway.